Team Geared Up

EDITOR - Nigel Callender, another new author joins TGU for the summer. Sports scientist, Nigel, remains better known for his bouldering achievements despite being a competent and prolific traditional and sports climber in his own right. He has been responsible for first ascents of routes up to E5 and states his best sports climbing achievement as climbing F 8a+. Nigel has left a lasting mark on the strong and deep-rooted climbing scene centred around Llanberis and Bethesda, leaving a string of first ascents and hard early repeats to his name. Welcome Nigel :-)

LIMERICK, IRELAND (Team Geared Up) - Improving Your Climbing Technique (Part 1)

Lack of precision in your footwork

Ever wondered why you go through the toes of your climbing shoes after only a few months? Chances are it’s because you’re not paying enough attention to your foot placement when you climb. This can range on a continuum from missing the hold completely (often due to attempting to place the foot too quickly and so almost throwing it at a hold) to having to re-place the foot on a hold, as you haven’t got the correct area of the shoe to contact the foothold (often due to looking away at the last moment before your foot lands on the hold). All these small moments of inaccuracy mean that you move in a less efficient manner, speed up the wear on your climbing shoes and decrease your chances of success on a route/boulder problem.

So how do you improve these basic technical errors?

The answer is concentration and practice!! Some ‘exercises’ that will help you to improve your precision include:
1) Climbing so that there is absolutely no noise from your feet - if there are tapping noises coming from your feet every time you place them on a hold, you’re not being slow and accurate enough in your foot placement.

2) Imagining that your shoes are worth far more than you can afford or even made of glass. Every time you scuff them, or miss a hold you damage them - the only way to avoid this is to be extremely careful in your foot placement.

3) Set yourself a boulder problem in at the climbing wall. Balance coins on each of the footholds and attempt to climb the problem without knocking any of the coins. The only way to manage this will be to climb with near perfect precision and grace, any inaccurate movements will knock the coins off and send you back to the start of the problem.

The only way to improve your footwork is to constantly pay attention to it. At first, these ‘exercises’ will seem difficult and a waste of energy, but as time goes on and the motor programmes develop and refine themselves, it will become automatic and something that you barely have to think about.

Part 2 to follow soon….

-Nigel Callender-

(Image Credit: Dave Hunt Bouldering in Doolin, Photo - Nigel Callender)

—

Nigel Callender has been National Bouldering Champion on numerous occasions since he started climbing 12 years ago. He works as a Climbing Instructor and has sessions to suit all levels of ability from Learn to Rock Climb days to Guided Bouldering and Adventure Race Training. See www.nigelcallender.com for more details. He also works as a performance coach with Neal McQuaid - See www.irishclimbingcoaching.ie